Back To Square One

April 13, 1986|By Charlie Jean

STANFORD UNIVERSITY researcher James Fleming, writing in the journal Science, casts new doubts on theories explaining why cells -- and people -- age. Scientists have theorized that through a cell's life, tiny mistakes accumulate in its genetic material and in the proteins the cell produces. Eventually, those mistakes become so numerous that the cell can no longer function and dies. Fleming says his studies of the cells of flies of various ages found no differences in the proteins they produce, suggesting that aging does not damage the genetic code. ''The evidence suggests that something very subtle is going on at the genetic level as cells get old,'' he said.